Taking Ownership Over Your Vehicle

Contrary to common belief, having a title on your car in your possession does not necessarily make you the owner of it. Sure, you have the right to sell, destroy, detail, or whatever you want to do with your car, but look at the areas of your life, where you rely on others to be responsible for your vehicle.

You take it to the car wash, to get an oil change, to tighten your duramax head studs, to have new tires put on, and to have the windows fixed! All of these, although sometimes tedious, can be done by you, the true owner of your car. Not only will it increase the likelihood of you treating your car with more grace and caution, but you will also save money as you learn to take on some of these challenges by yourself!

Washing Your Car

This is perhaps the largest waste of money unless you don’t have access to water. If you think washing your car requires a hose, it’s much more simple than that! You can easily wash your car with one or two buckets, car soap, and a large sponge specifically made for cars.

Fill the bucket, add the soap, scrub it down, then refill the bucket with clean water and dump it over your car. The dumping may require a couple of rounds to avoid the soap drying and leaving streaks on your car’s exterior.

Detailing Your Car

Similarly, it doesn’t require you to spend $100 every time you want to fine-tune the interior or exterior of your ride. While everyone might not have access to a shop vac, you can spend $99 less to vacuum your car at a self-service vacuum.

Head over to your local car supply store and buy wax and a rag to shine the outside, as well as a cushion and carpet cleaner to scrub the insides.

Oil Change

If you drive thousands of miles each month for work or travel, you have probably experienced the bank drops of getting an oil change. Those places always seem to rip customers off with outrageous prices! And for what? The service takes less than 15 minutes.

You can actually change your own oil, the issue is disposing of it, as it is not something that can just get discarded into the landfill. Discarding your oil might be an extra trip to a certified center, but it will still cost less than a full-service oil change at your local Jiffy Lube.

Tires

Whether you are patching or re-installing your car tires, it’s important not to fall under the impression that you need some expensive equipment to lift your heavy car. Although it will take more time than a complete car life, a simple car jack will do.

Jack your car up one wheel at a time, as you would put on your spare. You may need to invest in a toolset specialized for cars, but this is not nearly as expensive as years of taking your vehicle in to have the tires patched or replaced.

As you can see, there are many ways to take full responsibility and ownership of your car, and the benefits are for you, not it!